Janice G. Raymond

Janice G. Raymond(born 1943), author of The Transsexual Empire: The Making of the She-Male is a longtime feminist activist against violence against women, sexual exploitation, as well as against the medical abuse of women. She is also the author of five books and multiple articles, translated into several languages, on issues ranging from violence against women, women’s health, feminist theory and bio-medicine. She has published numerous articles on prostitution and sex trafficking. She lectures internationally on all these topics via Coalition Against Trafficking in Women. She has also created much controversy over her writings against transsexualism which many people see as extremely transphobic in nature.

Lynn Conway, professor emertius from the University of Michigan wrote of Raymond's book,

The book uses insensitive and transphobic language thoughout, while vilifying feminine MTF transsexuals as tools of patriarchy for upholding stereotypes of women, and vilifying androgenous lesbian identified MTF transsexuals for being tools of patriachy, fifth columnists infiltrating womens’space and “raping womens’ bodies”, a typical ‘damned if you do, damned if you don’t’ trap. She dismisses FTM transsexuals as deluded and misguided lesbians, afraid of the label “homosexual”. Her thesis rests entirely on arguments that sex/gender identity are fixed within the genitals at birth, an essentialist theory that excludes the possibility of transsexuals being a form of intersex, a topic which Raymond never addresses.

The book is not the most damaging writing that Raymond has penned. Far worse is a United States federal government commissioned study in the early 1980’s on the topic of federal aid for transsexual people seeking rehabilitation and health services. This paper, not well publicized, effectively eliminated federal and some state's aid for indigent and imprisoned transsexuals. It had a further impact on private health insurance which followed the federal government’s lead in disallowing services to transsexual patients for any treatment remotely related to being transsexual, including breast cancer or genital cancer, as that was deemed to be a consequence of treatment for transsexuality.

Dr. Raymond remains one of the most controversial and villified people regarding the transgender and, particularly, the transsexual community.